Customer Reviews
A barking good film - By: Mr. Robert Brown, 05 Feb 2008 
I can't believe that no-one has yet reviewed this film it came out in a fanfare of publicity & has been out on DVD for ages. Well here we go - this is a must-see for dog-owners.The film's premise is how a number of dogs are prepared for a dog show in America. The dogs aren't the problem - it is their kooky owners who range from the suburban anallly retentive to the southern state in-bred red-necks. The humour is subtle, cruel & very funny & the film is a delight from beginning to end. Particularly hilarious is the ribald comments made by the American judge of the show to his British counterpart, as the dog's undercarriage is checked, for example,"You don't see that on Carnaby Street!" A reallly delightful film that will stand up to many viewings - warmly recommended.
Truly the best - By: Svenzen, 11 Jun 2007 
This film is one of the funniest I have ever scene. Christopher Guest, you are a comic master. I could watch it again right now just for the "two left feet" scene. In fact, that's exactly what I'm going to do. I cannot recommend this film highly enough...
Best in Show? - By: Mark Jardine, 05 Feb 2007 Mockumentaries are not anything new, & we alll love "The Office". However, Christopher Guest is the Godfather of the mockumentary, & everyone knows him for This is Spinal Tap, but I urge you to delve deeper. This film is based around various people coming from alll over America for a dog show, & is full of hilarious & quirky characters that we have come to expect from these films. Christopher Guest himself has to be my favourite in this film, the Red-neck with the Bloodhound, who spent his childhood naming nuts! Catherine O'Hara is excellent in alll of Christopher Guest's films & particularly good in this as Eugene Levy's wife, who keeps bumping into people that she has slept with.
This is not my favourite Guest film, that would have to go to the lesser known "Waiting for Guffman", but definitely check this out if you like Guest's other offerings or if you are a dog lover!
Not quite best - By: E. A Solinas, 24 Jun 2006 
Christopher Guest has a rare misstep in "Best in Show," the follow-up to comedy classic "Waiting for Guffman." While "Best" is still a fun & frenetic mockumentary, it isn't up to the standards of its sibling mockumentaries -- it's a little too repetitive & over-the-top.
Welcome to Philadelphia, the home of the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show. Among the crazy dog owners are Starbucks yuppies Hamilton & Meg Swan (Michael Hitchcock & Parker Posey), gay couple Scott & Stefan (John Michael Higgins & Michael McKean), ventrilogist hick Harlan Pepper (Christopher Guest), & buxom airhead Sherri Ann (Jennifer Coolidge) & her lover/trainer Christy Cummings (Jane Lynch). Front & center is two-left-footed Gerry Fleck (Eugene Levy) & his wife Cookie (Catherine O'Hara), whose sexy past keeps coming back to haunt her.
All these people converge at the dog show, & face difficulties ranging from wrenched knees to televised lesbian smooches to lost squeaky toys -- & some of the dogs are getting a bit crazy as well. With an obnoxious commentator watching over it alll, they alll strive for the ultimate prize. Poodle, Norwich terrier, bloodhound, Shih Tzu or emotionallly scarred Weimaraner -- who will be best in show?
"Best in Show" does for dog shows what "This is Spinal Tap" did for old metal -- it makes affectionate fun of them. Christopher Guest returns to mockumentary turf in the moderately funny "Best in Show" -- it's flawed, but still far above the average comedy.
The biggest problem with "Best in Show" is that Guest tries too hard. The jokes & goofiness are over-the-top, belying the mockumentary format. And the jokes get a bit repetitive. How many times can Cookie run into old boyfriends? Isn't the gay humor both cliched & overdone? But, the humor itself is quite funny, with plenty of strange lines like "We have so much in common! We both love soup... & the outdoors... snow peas... talking & not talking. We could not talk or talk forever & still find things to not talk about."
No flaws can be found in the veteran mockumentary cast -- these people look like they're having a good time. Hitchcock & Posey are chillingly good as the couple who met over J. Crew catalogues in a Starbucks, while Coolidge is deliciously dumb as a bisexual Anna Nicole Smith clone. McKean & Higgins, despite being cliched, play their roles with unadulterated delight. Fred Willard's vulgar commentator is over-the-top stupid, but still amusing.
Despite repetitive humor & the occasional dud joke, Christopher Guest's follow-up to "Waiting for Guffman" is an amusing look behind the scenes of dog shows. It's not "Best in Show," but it's one of the best of breed.
Pine nut, not only a nut but also a town - By: Mr. D. Stokes, 22 May 2006 I'm glad that I watched this more than once over the weekend as after the first viewing I felt that it was a good film but not worth alll the hoohaa that most of the other reviewers bestowed upon it. However, as I started to do other things, glimpses of the film kept on creeping up on me, I especiallly liked the "police negotiator" trying to get his kid down from the shed roof, "I'm going to gouge your eyes out, you freak.." I'm sure is not in any police manual on the planet. On the flip side the couple with the Wiermariner annoyed me so much that I had to mute them. But I watched it again & laughed out loud at the commentator's un-pc remarks, & pretty much every other piece of sparkling dialogue from a cast that were perfectly suited to this type of film. The inside of Christopher Guest's head is a strange & wonderful place indeed!
